DAA News Network

The European Disability Forum (EDF) has reasserted its opposition to the institutionalisation of disabled people. This follows the BBC's revelations about the abuse of disabled people in Winterbourne View care home near Bristol in the UK.
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Shuaib Chalklen, a wheelchair user and the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability, was not allowed to board his Swiss Air flight from London to Geneva (on April 4th) because the airline claimed he could not use the toilet unaided. Discrimination such ...

A report just released by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has found that only seven of the 27 countries in the EU (Austria, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK) grant full voting rights to all disabled peo ...

Caged beds and other restraints are still used in a number of Council of Europe member states to keep disabled people "under control". Too little has been done to prevent this and other kinds of abuse in institutions. There is an atmosphere of imp ...

Over the last few years the European Commission has introduced legislation to ensure air and rail passengers benefit from the same standards of treatment throughout the European Union. They have now (from end of June 2010) launched a campaign to i ...

In January 2010, we reported that progress had been made on an agreement, proposed by the World Blind Union, that would give blind and partially-sighted people greater access to books and other copyright material. In June, the World Intellectual P ...

The General Assembly of European Disability Forum, meeting in Madrid (May 8th and 9th), issued a strongly worded resolution demanding that disabled people do not bear the cost of the current economic crisis.
There is concern that because o ...

The following Action Alert has been issued by the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL).
Europe is going through an important stagewith the policies for the next 10 years at stake. The Lisbon Treaty has now come to an end and the C ...

On April 16th, leaders of the EDF met Herman Van Rompuy, the new President of the European Council. The meeting was called to lobby for the mainstreaming of disability in the forthcoming 10-year strategy for economic and social development in the ...

Marie-Patricia Hoarau, a wheelchair user, was ordered to leave an Easyjet flight from Paris because she was not accompanied. This happened despite a fellow passenger, a British Airways flight crew member, saying he would act as her companion.
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On International Women's Day (March 8th), the European Disability Forum (EDF) demanded that disabled women be fully included in gender equality policies. They point out that as well as being victims of abuse and exploitation, disabled women face g ...

At the beginning of February, the EU Committee of Ministers released a strongly-worded recommendation calling for disabled children to be cared for in families and in the community instead of long-term residential institutions. This is backed up b ...

In November 2009 we reported that European Union had ratified the CRPD. This now seems to have been something of an illusion. For the Convention to be ratified, the instrument must be deposited with the UN. This has not been done. Although the EU ...

The European Union has just released a detailed study which analyses and interprets information on the situation of disabled women in 33 European countries in light of the UN Convention. The work also specifies what still has to be improved to all ...

On November 26th, the European Union( EU) ratified the CRPD. This is a groundbreaking move, as it is the first international human rights convention acceded to by the EU. It is also important for the Community's 65 million disabled people.
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The European Foundation Centre (EFC) has launched a mapping exercise to collect examples of good practices of implementing the UN Convention. Civil society organisations representing the disability community are invited to participate in the surve ...

EDF-EFC joint capacity building seminar on Article 33 of the UN Convention (Brussels, 28 October 2009)
The European Disability Forum (EDF) and the European Consortium of Foundations on Human Rights and Disability (EFC) ar ...

Disabled people are concerned over comments made by Jonathan Shaw, Minister of Disabled People, that the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People might not be ratified in full. At a hearing of evidence on the 18th November the Jo ...

As disabled people are waiting for the UK government to fully support the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, Jack Straw wants to introduce a new law with more emphasis on duties and responsibilities, and not only on rights. The Europe ...

Remember, Remember the 5th of November ...
In a modern twist on the Gun Powder Plot disabled activists and campaigners will present a petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, at 10 Downing Street next week. The petition, of over fif ...